Icelandic day of overeating
Salted meat and split pea soup are usually served with carrots, rutabega and potatoes. Photo: Iceland Monitor/Rax / Ragnar Axelsson
This is a fun tradition, and there is a line all day long,” says Guðríður María Jóhannesdóttir of Múlakaffi, a restaurant that serves traditional Icelandic food. Today is Sprengidagur, the day the people of Iceland eat split pea soup with salted lamb in abundance, as the name of the day refers to overeating and basically means eat-until-you-burst-day.
Múlakaffi is where people go if they don’t have time, don’t know how to cook these dishes, or just want to eat it for lunch at work and again at home in the evening. And as this is the day of overeating, there better be enough. Today the staff at Múlakaffi plan to cook over 1000 litres of soup and one and a half ton of salted lamb.
Sprengidagur is a part of a three day over indulging feast in Iceland. It started yesterday with Bun day and the last day, Öskudagur, is tomorrow. At Öskudagur children dress up, walk from company to company, sing in each place and are rewarded with candy. Needless to say staff usually gets some of the sweets as well.
